Saturday, 10 May 2025

Eurovision Song Contest League Tables 2024

Most Top Ten Places
I've compiled a league table of all the countries that have ever participated in the Eurovision Song Contest one or more times at some point from 1956 to 2024. The way it works is simple.

If a country wins a particular year (like Switzerland did in 2024), it scores 12 points for that year. Other top ten countries in a particular year receive the following number of points for that year: 2nd = 10 points, 3rd = 8 points, 4th = 7 points, 5th = 6 points, 6th = 5 points, 7th = 4 points, 8th = 3 points, 9th = 2 points, 10th = 1 point. Any country placed 11th or below receives zero points for that year! N.B. For my analysis, in 1956 Switzerland has been given 12 points for winning, but the other 6 unplaced countries were flagged as Unplaced, and thus awarded no league table points for that year.

Where multiple countries have tied for a particular total, I have taken their best ever places into consideration. For example, Finland and Yugoslavia both have 58 points. Finland and Yugoslavia have both won once each, but Finland has finished second once, whereas Yugoslavia has never finished second, hence Finland is ranked higher than Yugoslavia. Where necessary, third, fourth and subsequent places down to 27th are also considered.

Countries that have appeared in a grand final but have never had a top ten grand final placing (and hence have a league table total of 0) are ranked on their best final placing below 10th. Countries which debuted 2004 onwards and never reached the final (and hence have a league table total of 0) are ranked on their best ever semi-final placing (currently the only such country is Andorra).

N.B. From 1956 to 2003 inclusive there was only one show. There was one semi-final plus a grand final from 2004 to 2007 inclusive, and two semi-finals plus a grand final from 2008 onwards. For the purposes of this post, the term "final" or "grand final" includes the single shows from 1956 to 2003 inclusive and grand finals from 2004 to present.

The above is done for each year a country has participated, and all their scores added up. As you can see, despite the UK's poor performance since 1999, with few exceptions, it still tops the league table with 323 points.

Rank

Country

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

10th

Total

1

United Kingdom

5

16

3

5

1

2

5

1

1

3

323

2

Sweden

7

1

6

3

10

1

4

4

3

5

267

3

France

5

5

7

8

2

1

2

5

0

3

265

4

Italy

3

3

5

3

5

6

5

2

3

1

220

5

Ireland

7

4

1

3

3

4

2

2

2

4

213

6

Germany

2

4

5

4

2

3

2

8

3

2

199

7

Switzerland

3

3

4

6

2

3

0

5

1

2

186

8

Israel

4

2

2

2

3

2

3

2

2

0

148

9

Denmark

3

1

3

2

5

2

1

3

4

2

147

10

Spain

2

4

2

2

1

4

2

1

4

7

146

11

Netherlands

5

1

1

2

2

2

3

1

6

2

143

12

Norway

3

1

1

3

4

2

2

4

3

3

138

13

Luxembourg

5

0

2

5

1

1

1

1

2

2

135

14

Belgium

1

2

0

4

2

4

5

3

1

3

126

15

Ukraine

3

2

2

1

1

2

1

0

0

1

100

16

Russia

1

4

4

0

1

0

1

0

2

1

99

17

Austria

2

0

1

1

4

2

2

2

3

5

98

18

Monaco

1

1

3

3

2

1

1

2

1

1

97

19

Greece

1

0

3

0

2

1

3

5

3

2

88

20

Malta

0

2

2

0

1

1

1

3

2

2

66

21

Turkey

1

1

1

3

0

0

2

0

1

1

62

22

Estonia

1

0

1

1

1

3

1

3

0

0

61

23

Finland

1

1

0

0

0

2

4

1

2

3

58

24

Yugoslavia

1

0

0

3

0

1

3

2

1

0

58

25

Azerbaijan

1

1

1

1

1

0

0

2

0

0

49

26

Cyprus

0

1

0

0

3

2

1

0

3

0

48

27

Iceland

0

2

0

2

0

0

1

1

0

1

42

28

Portugal

1

0

0

0

0

1

2

2

3

3

40

29

Croatia

0

1

0

2

1

1

0

0

1

1

38

30

Serbia

1

0

1

0

1

1

0

0

0

1

32

31

Armenia

0

0

0

2

0

0

2

3

0

1

32

32

Latvia

1

0

1

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

31

33

Romania

0

0

2

1

0

0

1

0

1

1

30

34

Bulgaria

0

1

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

23

35

Australia

0

1

0

0

1

0

0

0

3

0

22

36

Bosnia & Herzegovina

0

0

1

0

0

1

1

0

2

1

22

37

Moldova

0

0

1

0

0

1

1

0

0

2

19

38

Hungary

0

0

0

1

1

0

0

1

1

1

19

39

Poland

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

1

0

0

17

40

Serbia & Montenegro

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

14

41

Albania

0

0

0

0

1

0

1

0

0

0

10

42

Lithuania

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

1

1

0

10

43

Slovenia

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

1

9

44

Czechia

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

1

6

45

Belarus

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

5

46

North Macedonia

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

4

47

Georgia

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

4

48

Montenegro

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

49

Slovakia

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

50

Morocco

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

51

San Marino

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

52

Andorra

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0


The above is highly deceptive, because the UK first entered in 1957, followed by every year from 1959 to present (66 entries to-date); and in that time clocked up 323 points, thereby topping the leader board. Azerbaijan first entered in 2008 and has had an excellent track record (at least during its first few years of participation), achieving 49 points in 13 grand final appearances, but still only appears 25th out of 52 on the above table. Clearly that puts countries which debuted since 2000 at a disadvantage as they inevitably have had far fewer entries to-date than countries that first entered in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Average By Grand Final Appearance
By dividing each country's total by the number of times it has appeared in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final, you get a much more accurate representation. Dividing the UK's total of 323 points by its number of grand final appearances (66) gives an average of 4.894 points per grand final appearance, putting it into 3rd place. Dividing Azerbaijan's total of 49 points by 13 (its number of grand final appearances to-date) gives it an average of 3.769 points; i.e. 12th place.

Where two or more countries tie for a particular average, the same tie-break rule used in the previous table is applied here. Countries whose totals are zero, and hence whose averages are zero, have been dealt with in the same manner and thus ranked in the same order as in the previous table.

Rank

Country

Years in Final

Total

Average

1

Serbia & Montenegro

2

14

7.000

2

Ukraine

19

100

5.263

3

United Kingdom

66

323

4.894

4

Ireland

46

213

4.630

5

Monaco

21

97

4.619

6

Bulgaria

5

23

4.600

7

Russia

22

99

4.500

8

Italy

49

220

4.490

9

Sweden

62

267

4.306

10

France

66

265

4.015

11

Israel

39

148

3.795

12

Azerbaijan

13

49

3.769

13

Luxembourg

38

135

3.553

14

Switzerland

53

186

3.509

15

Denmark

44

147

3.341

16

Estonia

19

61

3.211

17

Australia

7

22

3.143

18

Germany

67

199

2.970

19

Latvia

11

31

2.818

20

Netherlands

53

143

2.698

21

Malta

26

66

2.538

22

Serbia

13

32

2.462

23

Armenia

13

32

2.462

24

Norway

59

138

2.339

25

Belgium

54

126

2.333

26

Spain

63

146

2.317

27

Yugoslavia

27

58

2.148

28

Greece

41

88

2.146

29

Austria

49

98

2.000

30

Croatia

20

38

1.900

31

Turkey

33

62

1.879

32

Romania

19

30

1.579

33

Iceland

27

42

1.556

34

Moldova

13

19

1.462

35

Cyprus

33

48

1.455

36

Hungary

14

19

1.357

37

Bosnia & Herzegovina

18

22

1.222

38

Czechia

5

6

1.200

39

Finland

49

58

1.184

40

Poland

16

17

1.063

41

Albania

11

10

0.909

42

Portugal

46

40

0.870

43

Belarus

6

5

0.833

44

Lithuania

17

10

0.588

45

Slovenia

17

9

0.529

46

Georgia

8

4

0.500

47

North Macedonia

9

4

0.444

48

Montenegro

2

0

0.000

49

Slovakia

3

0

0.000

50

Morocco

1

0

0.000

51

San Marino

3

0

0.000

52

Andorra

0

0

0.000


This is still deceptive, because it ignores years from 2004 onwards in which a country entered the Eurovision Song Contest but failed to reach the final. Bulgaria has actually had 14 entries from 2005 to 2024 inclusive, but has only reached the final 5 times so far. Under the above scheme of things, its total of 23 points divided by 5 gives it an average of 4.600 points per grand final appearance (6th place on the leader board). The Netherlands has had 53 appearances in the final, the last being 2022, but failed to get past the semi-finals from 2005 to 2012 inclusive, and since then in 2015 and 2023. N.B. In 2024, the Netherlands qualified for the Grand Final, but was disqualified on the morning of the Grand Final, and has therefore been treated as a non-participation in the 2024 Grand Final here. Dividing its total of 143 points by 53 gives an average of 2.698 points per grand final appearance, putting it at 20th place on the leader board.

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Average By Years Entered
To get an even more accurate representation, one should include the years from 2004 onwards in which a country entered the Eurovision Song Contest but failed to reach the final. Obviously, a country which fails to reach the final scores no league table points for that year, just like finalists that finish below 10th. Dividing the UK's total of 323 points by its number of entries (66) gives it an average of 4.894 points per year it entered, which is now 2nd place. Dividing Azerbaijan's total of 49 points by 16 (its total number of entries to-date) gives it an average of 3.063 points per year; i.e. 12th place.

N.B. Serbia & Montenegro entered in 2006 but withdrew at the last minute. Nonetheless they voted in the Grand Final but didn't participate in either the Semi-final or Grand Final that year. Thus, they have been regarded as having finished last with zero points in the official Semi-Final 2006 results, despite not actually performing in that semi-final. Consequently, their total number of years entered has been taken as being 3 here; dividing their 14 points by 3 gives an average of 4.667 per year, putting them 3rd on the leader board.

Once again, the same tie-breaker rules apply where two or more countries tie for a particular average. Countries whose totals are zero, and hence whose averages are zero, have been dealt with in the same manner and thus ranked in the same order as in the previous two tables.

Rank

Country

Years Entered

Total

Average

1

Ukraine

19

100

5.263

2

United Kingdom

66

323

4.894

3

Serbia & Montenegro

3

14

4.667

4

Italy

49

220

4.490

5

Russia

23

99

4.304

6

Sweden

63

267

4.238

7

Monaco

24

97

4.042

8

France

66

265

4.015

9

Ireland

57

213

3.737

10

Luxembourg

38

135

3.553

11

Israel

46

148

3.217

12

Azerbaijan

16

49

3.063

13

Germany

67

199

2.970

14

Switzerland

64

186

2.906

15

Denmark

52

147

2.827

16

Australia

9

22

2.444

17

Spain

63

146

2.317

18

Netherlands

64

143

2.234

19

Norway

62

138

2.226

20

Yugoslavia

27

58

2.148

21

Estonia

29

61

2.103

22

Greece

44

88

2.000

23

Serbia

16

32

2.000

24

Armenia

16

32

2.000

25

Belgium

65

126

1.938

26

Malta

36

66

1.833

27

Turkey

34

62

1.824

28

Austria

56

98

1.750

29

Bulgaria

14

23

1.643

30

Croatia

29

38

1.310

31

Romania

23

30

1.304

32

Latvia

24

31

1.292

33

Cyprus

40

48

1.200

34

Iceland

36

42

1.167

35

Bosnia & Herzegovina

19

22

1.158

36

Hungary

17

19

1.118

37

Finland

57

58

1.018

38

Moldova

19

19

1.000

39

Portugal

55

40

0.727

40

Poland

26

17

0.654

41

Albania

20

10

0.500

42

Czechia

12

6

0.500

43

Lithuania

24

10

0.417

44

Belarus

16

5

0.313

45

Slovenia

29

9

0.310

46

Georgia

16

4

0.250

47

North Macedonia

21

4

0.190

48

Montenegro

12

0

0.000

49

Slovakia

7

0

0.000

50

Morocco

1

0

0.000

51

San Marino

14

0

0.000

52

Andorra

6

0

0.000


Now all of Bulgaria's 14 entries from 2005 to 2024 inclusive are being taken into consideration, dividing its total of 23 points by 14 gives it an average of just 1.643 points per year it entered, pushing it way down the leader board to 29th out of 52. From 2005 to 2012 inclusive, and since then in 2015 and 2023, the Netherlands entered but failed to qualify. In 2024, the Netherlands qualified for the Grand Final, but was disqualified on the morning of the Grand Final, and has therefore been treated as a semi-final only participation in 2024 for the purpose of this table. This gives the Netherlands a total of 64 entries to-date. Dividing its total of 143 points by 64 gives it an average of 2.234 points per year it entered, thereby putting it in 18th place, which ironically is a higher rank than when its total is divided by its number of grand final appearances (53).

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